Minora's Mask
by Yoshia
Summary: Sequel to Advice Mishaps. Link is now headed to Origina, mirror country to Termina. Strange things happen as Link along with partner Tatl tries to thwart villainous Minora, enraged Linda, and vacationing Ganondorf.
1. Recruiting Blues

**Note: **Trying once again, but far more original than the first attempt. I'm in the middle of writing Chapter 3 very slowly. I have no clue when I'll update beyond these first two chapters.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Legend of Zelda, Mario or anything else I might mention here. Except Linda of course.

Prologue

I strongly suggest that if you haven't read at least the first seven chapters of _Link in Lorule_ followed by _Advice Mishaps_, do so. If you can't be bothered to go back and read everything I've written so far, then you will be lost. Here I will provide a VERY simple overview.

One day, Link accidentally stumbled upon the land of Lorule, a mirror country of Hyrule. There he met his female lookalike, Linda. She was originally a villian but had since turned to the good side. Ganondorf ended up saving the country of Lorule from Linda, earning himself the title of "Hero of Destiny."

Linda stayed with Link a little while. She fell in love (like usual) with the Hero of Time, who searched for advice on how to tell her off. After consulting with two alter egos, Oni and Dark (an explanation on their existence is in _Eight Links_), Link ended up getting Linda banished. The villian-gone-good-gone-bad-again left Hyrule, swearing revenge.

Meanwhile, Ganondorf decided he needed a vacation.

Chapter 1 - Recruiting Blues  


A week had passed since Linda was banished. Zelda stood on one of a dozen balconies overlooking the town square. Granted, the square was a fair distance away, but the view of the rest of Hyrule was a bit better. The square was what held Zelda's interest in this case, however, because a large number of her subjects were gathered there. Every hour there were ever more Hylians shouting incoherent chants and marching to the castle gates.

"I forgot Hyrule had this many citizens," Zelda remarked. "It seems so deserted sometimes."

"Even so, Your Highness," Impa said from her position beside the princess, "they are rioting against your rule."

"Didn't I order you to take a vacation?"

"I couldn't get out of the castle gates to do so."

"Oh. Right. Hand me the binoculars."

Hyrule is quite medieval by many standards, but thanks to treaties with other kingdoms like the Mushroom Kingdom, advancements can be imported. Such objects include binoculars, an improvement on the usual telescope. These were handed to Zelda without question, who brought them to her eyes and looked more closely at the angry mob.

"Looks like one of them is holding some sort of box... wait, it's got a... some sort of pastry in it," Zelda observed.

"Why would they be holding pastry in a box during a riot?" Impa asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe in case somebody gets hungry."

One of Zelda's many soldiers rushed onto the balcony despite his heavy armor. As he caught his breath, he mumbled some sort of plea for help from one of Hyrule's three goddesses. Impa turned to see what was the problem as Zelda continued watching the crowd.

"Now they've got pitchforks and torches," Zelda observed nonchalantly.

"Your Majesty," began the messenger, "the people in the square demand that you abdicate your throne to their... royal croissant." He winced in anticipation of any negative reaction.

"Their what?" Impa blinked at the strange statement.

"Oh, I see. It IS a croissant. I was close in calling it a pastry. So they're carrying around what they consider a royal croissant," Zelda mused.

Impa sighed. "Looks like the average intelligence level of society has dropped another IQ point."

Zelda turned around to think with her back to the furious crowd. "So I have to squash a rebellion while watching for any sign of an impending invasion by Zeldon. This will be a little tough. I don't have enough troops to contain rebels and fight off another country's army."

The soldier-turned-messenger squinted at the crowd. "Is that a chainsaw?"

Zelda returned to observing the people at the gate. "Yes it is. I shouldn't have imported those. Now they're jumping somebody... It's Link! For Nayru's sake, what is he there for?"

"Maybe he got hungry," Impa suggested.

Zelda chuckled as she lowered the binoculars. "Since he's nearby, I've got an idea." She looked over her shoulder at the soldier still on the balcony. "Go fetch Link. Take a few extra guards with you if you have to, just get him out of that mob and up here ASAP!"

**Down in the town square...**

Link tried to understand exactly what he had done wrong. Earlier that day he had decided to help Dark make chocolate chip cookies and perhaps prevent him from burning them all. Unfortunately, there was no supply of chocolate chips. Dark argued that it was possible to make chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips, but Link stubbornly ordered Dark to not do anything else until he came back with a decent supply. Link entered the town square to buy some but ended up being accused of treason. He tried to defend himself, saying he was loyal only to Zelda, but that seemed to make them even angrier.

Unfortunately, since Link thought this was a routine shopping trip, he had left behind his weapons. All he had with him were a bag full of rupees, which were quickly taken away from him.

On the bright side, Link had checked the weather and noticed that it might rain, so he had put on his blue tunic. You never know when all of Hyrule would be suddenly flooded almost to the highest peaks, creating islands. Everyone considered him crazy for believing that because it would _never_ happen, but he persisted on wearing the Zora tunic on rainy days.

Why was it great that Link had his Zora tunic on? Because the crowd was trying to drown him. Several men held his head down in the fountain situated in the middle of the square. Several others held his limbs to prevent struggling. Fortunately the blue tunic allowed for underwater breathing, so Link was in no real danger.

Sounds move through the air at a different speed than through a medium such as water. Thus, if one tried to listen to sounds produced in the air while underwater, it would be distorted and harder to hear. This explains why Link couldn't comprehend what was going on when a group of soldiers muscled their way into the crowd to rescue the hero. He heard shouting and sounds indicating some sort of scuffle but they were muddled. When his limbs and the pressure on his head were released, he stayed underwater pretending to have drowned. He figured that it was better to fake death than to continue getting beaten.

Suddenly a hand snatched the back of Link's tunic's collar and jerked him up and back. He kept his eyes closed and remained unmoving, praying to the goddesses that nobody would figure out that he was still alive. The soldiers exchanged glances but continued to carry out their orders regardless. The princess never indicated what to do if Link was dead. They barreled through the crowd, past the castle gate, and up to the balcony where Zelda was chatting to Impa about how effective a croissant would be at ruling.

"Your Majesty, we have delivered Link per your orders!" announced one of the soldiers.

Zelda looked at them curiously. "Why are you carrying him? He should be able to walk by himself."

"We... we think the crowd might have drowned him."

"Is that so? Then put him down. You are all dismissed."

The soldiers did as they were told: they laid Link down and hurried off the balcony. Zelda and Impa eyed the motionless body. After a few minutes, Zelda kneeled next to Link, tapping his chest a little.

"Link? Get up. We know you're faking this."

He didn't move.

Impa chuckled. "He is quite stubborn."

"I know. I'll just tell him my plan anyway, since I'm sure he's listening. Nothing better to do," Zelda said. "Alright, Link. You know that right now there's a riot going on trying to oust me as the head of all Hyrule. They want to replace me with a croissant - one of those things you'd eaten a week ago here at the castle. I bet you're thinking that I could just order my soldiers to disperse them, but this isn't that easy. I broke off the peace treaty with Prince Zeldon."

Link twitched, as if he wanted to get up and say something. Instead he stayed still after the twitch.

"Through my sources I have found out that Zeldon is planning an invasion of Hyrule. With my troops already compromised in stopping this riot and preventing any more - by capturing the leaders and such - I believe I don't have enough to deal with an attack from Lorule. Now I bet you're wondering where you fit into all this. I want you to go down to Termina and recruit some more soldiers for my army."

That bit of information did it. Link sat up, coughing slightly at the sudden movement, and squeaked, "_What_?"

"You heard me. I want you to be my recruiter."

"But... what happened to your regular recruiters?"

"They're part of the riot. Guess they didn't like their salary."

Link started to let loose a torrent of complaints but Zelda stopped him. "Link, orders are orders. You will leave for Termina as soon as the crowd has mostly cleared."

Link raised his hand. Zelda raised an eyebrow and responded, "What is it?"

"I don't know the way there. I found it as a kid, but I doubt I can remember that far back anymore."

"Want me to send Junior to look for it instead?"

"No! I'll find it myself," Link resigned. "On one condition."

"What is it?"

"I get a bag of chocolate chips."

Impa and Zelda exchanged glances, but didn't complain. After all, how many opportunities is there to send someone recruiting for some chocolate chips?

**A day later, Link wasn't happy.**

He was riding Epona around in a large forest. This forest nestled between Hyrule and Lorule, with no clear indication of where one country ended and one began, so sometimes Link found himself exiting in the mirror country. He realized that if he hadn't been distracted by Majora, he could have found Lorule earlier. Funny coincidence. Part of this forest was the Lost Woods, but the forest itself stretched further north, beyond Hylian and Lorulian borders. Link kept riding about in a random pattern, since he had no clue where he was going. He had left Navi and Tatl back home... after all, annoying fairies did not make good traveling partners.

Suddenly, the forest grew eerily familiar. Link looked about himself, stroking Epona nervously. The horse picked up on her rider's uneasiness, so she grew tense as well.

A series of tree stumps, one with a tunnel in it at ground level. The Hero of Time hopped off his trusty mare and coaxed her towards the tunnel, but she hesitated, then backed up. Something wasn't right, she could sense it. Link couldn't understand it and tried to pull the horse in, but she reared up and kicked with her front legs. This startled Link, who staggered back and fell down the tunnel.

Behind one of the stumps stood an imposing figure. He had observed everything that had occurred, and all he could do was laugh at his luck.


	2. Transformations

**Note:** Enjoy this second chapter. Took me a while to write it.

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter 1.

Chapter 2 - Transformations

Link discovered that the tunnel did not go straight down. It twisted and curved, sometimes throwing him upwards as if this was some sort of roller coaster ride. Suddenly a rock on the side connected with his head, and the hero passed out from the impact. Before doing so, he became aware of some strange laughter but had no time to think about it.

Link landed face up in a shallow pool of water. A certain masked kid floated nearby with a fairy beside him. The kid, named Skullbro, frowned - it was not visible due to the mask - and moved to examine Link, taking some sort of blue object from him to have a closer look. The fairy seemed nervous.

Skullbro threw up his hands in frustration. "I'm going to sue the catalog company! I order one live hero, and all I get is a dead guy in a skirt!"

The fairy hesistated. "Uh... that's Link."

"Oh?" Skullbro looked again. "This is perfect! Even better than what I ordered! ...Except, he's dead."

Link groaned and moved his head a little. His back complained about the smallest attempted movement so all he could do was open his eyes.

Skullbro laughed at this. His laugh was eerily similar to Majora's laugh. "Did you break your back? Tsk, tsk, shouldn't have fallen so fast."

Link widened his eyes. "M-Majora? I thought you-"

"Not Majora, you imbecile. I am his younger brother, _Minora_, and I am far worse than that idiot brother of mine. I am going to show him up by properly disposing of the hero and destroying the town, which _he_ failed to do!" Skullbro laughed again.

"Pfft, if I can beat the older then I'm sure I can beat the younger one too," Link said confidently. "I can deal with a typical villian, sure."

"_Typical_?" Skullbro spat out the word as if it was vile. "Your attitude is really grating on my nerves. Maybe I should teach you a little humility before I kill you off with the town. After all, it's too easy with you disabled."

Link huffed. "Whatever, I can still defeat you."

Skullbro searched Link's pockets - technically, he only had one, the magical bag that can hold everything - and pulled out the four main masks that Link kept with him at all times: Deku, Zora, Goron, and Fierce Diety. "You won't be needing these. Where did you put the others?"

"I sold them to the mask salesman. They were useless."

"Ah, good. You wouldn't need those either. Now, what did my brother do to you in this situation, hmm?" Skullbro tapped his 'chin,' or rather the bottom of the mask, with Link's masks.

"Turn him into a Deku scrub," the fairy answered since Link refused to do so.

Skullbro shook his head. "That is a strange choice to start with. I can see how it would seem to make you powerless, but I've got a better idea."

Link squeezed his eyes shut, since he was unable to resist. It seemed like an eternity before he heard the fairy's voice again, calling out to him.

"Link? ... Link! Open your eyes! Your back is fine now."

The Hero of Time sat up, water rippling around him. The fairy flew in front of him, glowing more than usual in concern. It took Link a few seconds to register the fairy. "Wha... What happened?"

"You might want to look in the water."

Link looked down at the water, and his jaw dropped. Staring back at him was his Goron form. "Uhhh..."

"What's the matter?"

Link had only one thought, and after a second or two he managed to voice that thought. "I feel stupid."

"Um, okay. My name's Tael. I'm sure you remember my sister, Tatl. Where is she, anyway?"

"With... um, I can't remember."

Tael's wings drooped a little. "Oh." He perked back up again. "How about we make the best of this and get out of here. Through the door and out into the big, wide world!"

"Durr, pretty light." Link stared at the floating purple orb. It was _glowing_, like a lightbulb. He _must_ have it!

"This isn't good," Tael muttered as his eyes widened. He flew straight for the door as the Goron jumped to his feet. Link's action caused the ground to crack a little, draining out all of the water. The fascinated Goron ran straight for the pretty purple lightbulb and didn't seem to notice when he barreled straight through the door - and fourteen more doors right behind it. He stopped only when he slammed into a wall and it didn't yield, so Link stared at it.

Tael flew over with concern. "Are you okay?" he asked hesitantly.

Link spun around and noticed the fairy. "Pretty!" he declared, reaching out with both hands to catch said 'pretty' object.

Tael turned and sped away for dear life.

**Back at the now drained pool of water...**

Remember that figure briefly mentioned at the end of last chapter? Yeah, that guy. Since he had nothing better to do, the figure finally got over his laughing fit - which included some curses directed at the goddesses, especially Din. He hopped down the tunnel after Link, enduring the same twisted crazy ride. Now, one would have expected that he would know better than to curse his own patron goddess. Or any kind of diety. Since he cursed at six divine beings, one could reasonably anticipate some form of retribution.

Ganondorf landed face first into what used to be a pool of water.

Skullbro appeared again, floating in the air as he considered the new guy. "Maybe this is my ordered hero." He pulled out a catalog and flipped through it, trying to find the proper page.

"Starfox... Captain Falcon... Mario... Kirby... ah! Here it is! Ganondorf, Hero of Destiny."

Ganondorf was still concious, so he was immediately outraged at the title attached to his name. He had earned it upon saving Lorule from a mask-crazed Linda. This act was aided by the Lorulian Master Sword - which he kept for an unknown reason. Ganondorf could never really bring himself to get rid of it, even though it was a constant reminder that he was not really a villian now, but rather, a hero.

Skullbro moved the catalog down just enough to eye his newest toy. He noted that the Gerudo - that's what the catalog said he was - started to get up, but didn't think much of it. He looked back down to scan the information. "Let's see, Hylian male Gerudo, sorceror skilled in all forms of magic, holder of the Hylian Triforce of Power... ooh, power! Interesting. I remember now why I picked you."

Ganondorf's mind quickly compiled a list of the ways to painfully kill this idiot in front of him. He noted the mask on this guy's face. _'Majora? No, the colors are off. Oh well, he dies either way.'_

Skullbro moved a foot to the left as a fireball scorched past. "Tsk, tsk. Want to kill the villian before the game even starts? That's not the way heroes work, friend. Looks like I'll have to teach you some manners along with the previous one."

The next thing the Hero of Destiny knew, Skullbro was gone. The next few seconds - or was it minutes, hours? - passed by in a blur. Ganondorf shook his head to clear it; his thoughts were muddled and confused. The area seemed... bigger? He started to stand but stumbled instead. Something was off, but what? Ganondorf looked at his right hand, except it wasn't a hand. It was a red paw.

Ganondorf looked backwards, confirming his suspicions. Three red tails, tipped with black. He checked his left paw; the Triforce was still there, a soft yellow against the red fur.

"Why can't vacations ever go the way I want them to?" he sighed. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

**Endnote: **No promises on when the third chapter will be done. Tell me what you think about these first two chapters! 


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